Calif. high school asked to abandon Arab mascot

2:26 PM,
Nov. 7, 2013

In this Sept. 10, 2010 photo, Coachella Valley High School's mascot, 'Arab,' gives the thumbs during a game against Yucca Valley, in Thermal, Calif. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is calling on the Southern California high school to get rid of its longstanding mascot that it deems offensive. The mascot has been around since the 1920s and chosen to recognize the area's reliance on date farming, traditionally a Middle Eastern crop. (AP Photo/The Desert Sun, Jay Calderon)

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THERMAL, Calif. (AP) - Attend a Coachella Valley High School football game, and you may be surprised to see belly dancers performing at halftime shows.

Spectators also will find a snarling, black-bearded mascot wearing a headscarf urging fans to root for the team.

The mascot in this Southern California desert town east of Palm Springs that has existed for nearly a century has now drawn the ire of an anti-discrimination group that deems the caricature offensive and stereotypical. ...